As the universities and colleges across the country wind up their graduation ceremonies, students face an uphill task of searching for jobs. While most students must have been already placed through campus recruitment processes, others might have to list out prospective companies, ready their resumes and cover letters.
The first step into any company is getting your qualifications across in an effective manner. To make the resume impressive, analysts have revealed certain words that are too generic and redundant and which could lessen a candidate's chances of employment.
LinkedIn, the social networking site, releases every year the most overused buzzwords in member profiles and resumes. This year, the word, 'Creative' tops the list followed by effective, motivated and extensive experience.
According to career expert David Schwarz, by incorporating buzzwords in a CV, an aspirant tries to mislead a prospective employer. "They create almost a sense of misleading because they gloss over the detail," Schwarz, a principal consultant at career management firm Board Portfolio, said.
Schwarz said that every fact should be proof-based. "If you can't put a metric or a statistic next to that statement shouldn't have it in your CV."
Further, Schwarz said that contenders should never mention aspiration statements in their resume.
"'I want to be, or my goal is, or in the future I want', they're all massive red flags because they all basically say you're not qualified to do the job you're doing now," Schwarz said.
The top 10 buzzwords that appear most in profiles and SHOULD NOT:
1. Creative
2. Effective
3. Motivated
4. Extensive experience
5. Track record
6. Innovative
7. Responsible
8. Analytical
9. Communication skills
10. Positive
Instead of using these words, LinkedIn recommends replacing them with significant and comprehensive examples. Instead of using 'creative', one can describe a situation where he/she developed a creative solution. Say I did this rather than I could do this.
